Time Past (29 page)

“Perhaps you will think differently when I am finished.” He inclined his head in gentle reprimand and I remembered the irritation with which I’d often sat through his convoluted explanations of protocol.

“Get to the point, then.” Murdoch stretched back in the chair.

“If I state the point without providing the necessary background, how will you understand whether the point is reached or not?” said Veatch.

I jiggled my bare feet on the carpet.

Veatch glanced down and took the hint. “Unfortunately, the storage bay is designated an official area. And in consideration of services rendered previously to the administration by Trillith, I waived the surcharge.”

“You let it use an official area without permission or payment,” said Murdoch. “So what? We’re worried about being arrested by ConFleet at the moment, not how you fiddle the files.”

“I am not familiar with that particular human archaism,” said Veatch. “However, I assure you this has some bearing on your position.”

“You don’t want Stone to find out,” I said, suddenly understanding. “Or he already has, and you want to stop him acting on it.”

Veatch inclined his head graciously. “Perhaps you could explain to Mr. Stone how difficult it is to balance the demands of the various interest groups on the station?”

Murdoch guffawed without humor. “This is a waste of time.”

“Actually, I can think of a couple of issues Mr. Veatch may be able to help us with,” I said, trying to signal him with my eyebrows. “Surely you can tell Stone that approval for emergency private use of the storage bay is waiting on a security check or something?”

“Trillith is too damn greedy for its own good,” he grumbled. “But I’ll see what I can do.”

I smiled at him. “For example, Veatch might be able to enlighten me on how the Invidi treat those who break the rules of their society. Do they have punishment, as we do? Atonement?” I wanted to know if Serat not being here to meet us meant the other Invidi were preventing him from coming for his ship.

Veatch settled back in his chair and tugged at his suit to keep it smooth. “The Invidi, Commander? I am no expert in the Invidi.”

“But you just told us about them,” Murdoch said.

“In my capacity as station manager”—he glanced reproachfully at Murdoch—“I have acquired a degree of knowledge about the species of the Confederacy. I must say that the Invidi are particularly guarded in their presentation of their society to non-Invidi. However, based on the case of Tiepolo v. An Dorol of 2119—”

“Never mind the details,” interrupted Murdoch.

“In summary, the Invidi do not have a system of physical restraint or mental reconditioning. They do not feel they have the right—and I may be mistaken in this, Commander—to restrict another’s movement. I may add that my observation of An Barik on this station supports this interpretation.”

I had to agree with him. An Barik had been almost a recluse and refused to have much contact with even other Four residents. When
Calypso
arrived and he tried to access its jump drive before anyone else, he’d used my friend Quartermaine to do the hard work.

“Why did Barik leave?” I said.

“I do not know.”

I dragged my thoughts back to the neutrality vote. “What about the H’digh?” I asked, thinking of Henoit. A residual shiver from last night prickled the back of my neck. “How do you think they’ll vote?”

Veatch considered. “H’digh domestic politics are extremely volatile. However, a conservative faction now holds the Confederacy Council representative posts, so it is likely they will vote no, in an attempt to restrain the New Council group and the radical groups within H’digh society who support the New Council.”

Like Henoit. “Does the New Council still have the Q’Chn?”

Murdoch started to say something, stopped.

Veatch picked an invisible piece of fluff from his knee. “A good question, Commander. I fear the answer is in the affirmative.”

Q’Chn were the genetically engineered warrior caste of the now defunct K’Cher empire. At the end of the K’Cher-Invidi war, four Earth years before the formation of the Confederacy in 2065, the K’Cher agreed not to make any more Q’Chn and the galaxy breathed a collective sigh of relief; Q’Chn were formidable killers and the old K’Cher empire employed them frequently to enforce order in its colonies. Until the Invidi stopped them.

“Have the Invidi said how they defeated the Q’Chn in the war?” I said. “Surely they have a duty to the rest of the Confederacy to protect us this time.”

Murdoch shifted in his chair and leaned back. “If they have, nobody’s telling Security forces on the ground. Why should the Invidi bother? They’re not the ones getting killed yet.”

When one of these aliens appeared on Jocasta at the end of the Seouras occupation, we expected the worst. Five humans and one K’Cher were killed by it. But the Q’Chn we saw was different to the old Slashers—it thought ahead, it had the ability to wait and hide. It was more than just a biological killing machine.

The New Council had obtained Q’Chn genetic material and “made” their own Q’Chn, modifying along the way. But genetic engineering is an inexact science at best. They wanted a Q’Chn that was amenable to orders yet also an efficient terrorist; instead, they had produced a cunning killer with nobody knew what desires and goals.

“The New Council won’t be interested in Jocasta unless we’re neutral,” Murdoch said.

I nodded. Henoit had come to Jocasta to bargain for use of the station as a base. “Which is why some of the delegates will vote against us. They think if ConFleet is here, it will keep the Q’Chn out of a system that has a position on the jump network.”

“And potentially into Central.” Veatch sounded satisfied at our conclusions. “I estimate we will lose both Earth and the H’digh votes because of this issue. I should go,” he added. “It has been enjoyable to talk with you again, Commander. Chief Murdoch, despite the fact that you are still officially on leave, Lieutenant Sasaki wished me to inform you that the civil unrest in Delta Section Three has calmed during the night...”

“Civil unrest?” I looked at Murdoch.

He shrugged. “Apparently there was a protest against the increase in time it takes to access the docks because of a new safety measure.”

“... and the fire extinguisher system test will be at 1400 hours, not 0900,” finished Veatch.

“Thanks,” grunted Murdoch without the slightest indication of gratitude.

Veatch inclined his head and left.

Murdoch rose abruptly. “He’s always manipulating. Always got something on the boil, and you’re lucky if you guess what it is before you get scalded.”

“Maybe this time he’s genuine.” I sounded as unconvinced as I felt. “Bill, do you think he’s right about the Q’Chn? That there are still some out there?”

“We’ve heard rumors.”

“Is it likely?”

He shrugged. “You tell me, it was your ex who was so chummy with the New Council.”

I picked up my empty cup, put it down again in confusion. Had Murdoch suspected something last night? Why bring up Henoit now?

“Anyway,” he went on, “if you’re worried about defense against the Q’Chn, don’t waste your time. We can’t defend ourselves against something like that. And if the New Council come asking for dock space, we’ll be allies and won’t need to worry about the Q’Chn.”

“I don’t want to be allies with the Q’Chn. Bill, defense is a problem with neutrality, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “I guess the only thing to do is either build up a standing fleet of our own, or make it more profitable for people like the New Council to use the station, not attack it. After all, what would we have that the Q’Chn could possibly want?”

I didn’t think the Q’Chn thought about things so logically, but it didn’t seem worth debating. I went into the bedroom and pulled on my boots.

“Bill,” I called, “are you going to keep that constable with me all day? It’s a waste of your people’s time.”

“Regulations.” He came to the doorway, fastening his jacket. “If we’re going to use my custody of you as a reason to resist Confederacy charges, we’re going to have to do it properly.”

He patted his equipment belt, frowned, reached across to the desk for one of the handcoms there, and stuck it to the belt. “We could put you on bond for a while,” he said. “Means you put up a payment and promise not to leave the station or communicate with anyone outside the station. We let you walk around.”

“Like bail,” I said. “Grace lent Vince money once to get one of his mates out.”

“That’s right.”

“I overdrew already to pay Finke.”

He grinned. “You can put that ship up, I suppose.”

“But aren’t you treating it as stolen property?” It sounded unorthodox to me. Stone wouldn’t like it. “That’s a Confederacy problem,” said Murdoch, almost happily. He was in a strange mood this morning.

“If you say so.”

He sat behind the desk and tapped at the comm panel for a moment. “Come look in here.” I peered over his shoulder. He was in a restricted area of Security input.

“Okay,” he said, “I’ve put in the details.” He pointed at the retina plate. “Have a squint in there, so it can check with your records.”

I stared at the plate until my eyes began to water. The acknowledgment light blinked on. I stretched my neck and stepped back. “Bill, tell me about Stone. Where was he before he came here?”

“Does it matter?”

“I need to know how he might react if ConFleet gets pushy.”

He signed himself out of the secure area before replying. “I think he’ll get out of their way. He was head of Audits—this is in External Affairs—for three years before he came here, and assistant secretary of Finance and Admin in the same ministry before that.”

“He’s never been off-planet before?”

“Only to Mars.”

I snorted. “I know I wasn’t Earth’s favorite head of station, but who decided Stone would be better?”

“I reckon Earth wants to get us economically viable before the neutrality application. Then they can say, why bother with neutrality, you’ve got it all now.” He looked at me sideways. “But then, if you’d been here, Stone wouldn’t have got chosen at all.”

I said nothing. The weight of mistaken choices sat heavy in my stomach, and the Seouras implant twinged as if it sensed the irony of how close I was to answering the question that drove me to make those choices. How did the jump drive work? That ship in our dock could tell me.

Murdoch seemed to be waiting for something. Then he shrugged, stood up, and we were face-to-face behind the desk. “You’ll be with the ship.”

“Yes.”

“Have you thought of letting everyone know?” he said. “Sending the ship’s specs to everyone you can possibly think of and hoping the information will go right across the Confederacy?”

“I have, but that will take time, and this isn’t any old jump drive. It’s got Tor elements. Unless I look at it while I can, we may never get a second chance.” A thought struck me. “My general access codes won’t work anymore, will they?”

“No, they won’t. I’ll get Helen to put you back in the system. But I can’t get you more than basic level stuff. Because you’re officially missing and until I change that status, it won’t recognize you for higher-level commands.”

“I remember.” I wish I hadn’t helped Engineering develop those security measures. We’d had a problem with official supplies being rerouted by thieves who masqueraded as dead or missing officers, so we’d tightened up the system.

Murdoch stayed in front of me when I attempted to move past him. Put out an arm to block my way, but the arm ended up around me. “Halley, is it safe? You quit breathing last time.”

“It should be all right. Nothing too bad happened after that first contact. And I won’t be going anywhere in it. Just seeing what I can find out with diagnostic tools.” I would have liked to stay and enjoy the sensation of his arm, but the ship was pulling at me with an almost palpable tug, and I didn’t want Henoit whispering in my ear again.

“See you later, then.” Murdoch let his arm drop.

“Right.”

Awkward moment when neither could decide whether to kiss or not. Awkward moment solved when Murdoch brushed his lips on mine. His chin bristled me with two days’ worth of stubble.

Twenty-two

I
t was about 0800 hours when I walked back through the Bubble to the nearest spoke. The uplift there would take me straight to the part of the center that housed the enclosed areas in which ships from our EarthFleet squadrons used to dock for maintenance, before they were decimated by the Seouras. Sasaki said she’d put the ship in there, probably for several reasons: it would be well protected against curious stares and isolated enough to be easily guarded; if ConFleet tried to locate the ship, the proximity of many other ships and the opsys core might confuse their sensors, and the docks offered easy maintenance access.

She’d also said the cruiser had done nothing unusual after sending the scout through the jump point, merely continued on its normal patrol pattern. I would gain a little time, too, because at this time of year, the orbit of Jocasta’s planet took us farther away from the Central jump point’s flatspace coordinates. It wouldn’t take long for a ConFleet ship to cover the distance, but I’d be glad of even one extra hour in which to examine the ship.

This part of Jocasta was a pleasant open area between the Alpha ring section containing central admin and the hospital. Around me, low vegetation lined the double walkways. People in uniform or civilian suits sat on benches or walked between offices. The huge pillar of the uplift spoke blocked the path ahead, otherwise it would have continued curving up. The mirrors that lined the top of Alpha ring brightened the “sky” to pale gold above, almost too strong to look straight up. If you could look straight up, you would see the cylindrical center of the station, the hub connected by the lines of the spokes, and beyond it the curve of the rings on the far side.

Veatch’s words echoed in my head. We were used to thinking of Jocasta as being on the periphery, as being unimportant. Hard to consider it wasn’t necessarily so. The jump point was close to the station’s orbit because, during the Tor-Invidi war, this had been a place of conflict and the Invidi ships, or Bendarl, perhaps, had to have had a way to get here. And how did the Tor get here? Through their own jump system, presumably. All we knew about the Tor was that they had possessed jump technology. When the gray ships arrived we first thought they’d come through an unknown Tor jump point.